A New Mexico judge cites insurrection in barring a county commissioner from office

Couy Griffin, a county commissioner in Otero County, New Mexico, speaks on June 17 outside federal court in Washington, D.C., where he was convicted of entering a restricted area during the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/AP)

A county official in New Mexico who was convicted of entering a restricted area during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol must be immediately removed from office for his involvement in an insurrection, a judge decided Tuesday.

District Court Judge Francis Mathew ruled that Couy Griffin, an Otero County commissioner, is now disqualified from holding public office because he violated Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment by participating in the Jan. 6 siege.